During 2017 many conferences and events worldwide commemorated the 500th anniversary of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation(s). In South Africa too several academic conferences were held that focused on the Reformation’s history, theology and legacy. The annual meeting of the Theological Society of South Africa (TSSA), for instance, had as its theme ‘Between conflict and communion: the reception of sixteenth century Reformations in South Africa.’ In October 2017 a conference in Stellenbosch engaged with the theme ‘Crying for life: Reformation Today,’ while another consultation held in Stellenbosch focused on ‘Bonhoeffer and the Reformation.’ In this December 2017 edition of the Stellenbosch Theological Journal (STJ) we include several articles – under the heading ‘Commemorating the sixteenth century Protestant reformations’ – that were first presented as papers at these academic events, or relate to this theme.

The other articles in this edition cover a broad spectrum of theological themes from various disciplinary perspectives. The article by Cilliers Breytenbach was written in honour of the South African New Testament scholar Andrie du Toit, while Graham Ward’s article on ‘Decolonising theology’ was first presented at the annual Steve de Gruchy Memorial Lecture.

In addition to the 28 peer-reviewed articles presented here, we also include a review by Frits de Lange of the philosopher Anton van Niekerk’s book ‘Die dood en die sin van die lewe.’